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Friday, June 27, 2008

Regarding Georgia Bounty Grants

Very little that is authentic has been written about the land grants given by the State of Georgia immediately following the close of the American Revolution, and many erroneous ideas have developed during the years since. There appears to be prevalent a belief, subscribed to by many of the patriotic societies, that every man who received a "Bounty Grant" was a Revolutionary soldier and a hero, whereas, actually the majority were not in either category. Very unfortunately this error was perpetuated by the publication in 1920 of a book by a former historian in which he listed as veterans all persons for whom land was surveyed, without recognizing any distinction between the various classes of grants.

A most able and accurate historian has written that, at the start of the Revolution, Georgia " had about 18,000 whites and 15,000 Negro slaves. If every Georgian has cast his lot with the Revolution, she could not have afforded more than 3,000 fighting men." It is a recognized fact that a very large percentage of the Georgia colonists continued to be loyalists or Tories up to the evacuation of Savannah by the British in 1782. A later writer has laboriously counted 1,458 warrants issued for bounties to known fighting men, and 2,923 warrants issued for bounties to citizens as a reward for not plundering or distressing the country.

Before studying the background and history of the bounty grants, let us consider the conditions and temper of the time during which they were being issued. The Executive Council, in its minutes of July 15, 1784, recorded, "It being suggested there are many frauds committed in the surveys of land in the two new Counties can there be any general rule made in regard to the stopping all grants for lands in the said Counties until the meeting of Assembly? The Council are of opinion, that there can be no such general rule made…." And again, by section IX of the Act of February 22, 1785, the General Assembly enacted: "And whereas, it is apprehended that great abuses have happened in regard to bounties, Be it therefore enacted… That in future…." Hundreds of vouchers or preliminary certificates intended to induce the issuance of warrants were signed by former officers, who then bought those warrants and had grants issued thereon to themselves. There are on file in the Georgia Department of Archives and History petitions containing the names of twenty or more men, all in the same handwriting, alleged by the certifying officer to have been entitles to bounty, praying that their bounties be granted to that officer. Among the worst offenders who thus acquired thousands of acres were Peter Carnes, Elijah Clarke, Leonard Marbury, Horatio Marbury, John Gorham, Edward Telfair, Ignatius Few, Zachariah Philips, Micajah Williamson, and Richard Call.

Moreover, entirely apart from such planned frauds, there occurred in the office of the secretary of the Executive Council, on May 29, 1784, the day appointed for the numbering and distribution of warrants for survey, such riotous and disorderly conduct that the clerks were overrun and the warrants were forcibly removed and scattered outside. Many duplicate warrants were signed to replace those so removed, and afterwards grants were made to the same man on both the original and the duplicate. Under such confusion, it would not be surprising that the fearful clerks should put through many unauthorized warrants for the most aggressive of the rioters. Read the words of the man who actually received the petitions and distributed the warrants, "Speculation, as I hinted before, has certainly extinguished in many men, passing for gentlemen, every spark of probity and integrity. Many have sworn that instead of 287 ½ acres of land, for which their warrants were made, they were entitled to 575 acres, and for others, on second thought, have deposed that they petitioned or meant to petition for the other Bounty, in both of which cases that warrants were taken up and new ones made accordingly."

The original acts and resolutions pertaining to bounties allotted to each rank of each class a specified number of acres of land which would be exempt from tax for ten years. But Section XV of the Act of February 25, 17848 increased the respective amounts by fifteen per cent and made the land subject to tax. Inasmuch as the first warrants were dated May 15, 1784, they all conformed to that act, regardless of the lesser amount written in the governor's certificates. The bounties were awarded as follows: